Are You My Mother?

 As I have mentioned before, we are overrun with Broody Hens around the farm.  So when yet another hen got the urge to hatch out, we, not wanting anymore chicks, decided to try something different.

A chicken raising ducklings??  Well why not! :)  

The babies are so adorable, "squishy little marshmallows" as Charity calls them. 

Hey, they're the same color as their foster mom. That counts right?! 

They are currently infatuated with all the red parts on her face, and will poke and peck at her.  A little different from them. :) 

{Ducklings in the sunshine} 

 "Whatcha doin Mom?"

It will be rather fun to watch what their temporary Mother will do once they grow up and take an interest in swimming and the like. Hopefully it won't stress her out too much. :) Always something to watch around here!

"Are you my Mother?"

~Chs

Joy in Beauty

"You can complain because the Rose has thorns, or rejoice because the thorn has Roses."

Coming Soon #2

Josh and Theresa aren't the only ones expecting...   Our sweet Sadie Rose is due with puppies just one week after Theresa is due with the baby! :) 

(the monkey in the photo is Sadie's current "baby".  She tends to fixate all her love on certain stuffed animals, and the new one is "Baby Chee-Chee")

Sadie is 1/2 Australian Shepherd, 1/2 Labrador Retriever, and we have bred her to a very beautiful laid back Australian Shepherd named Wagner.  

So the puppies will be 75% Aussie, and we are planning on selling all of them.  Though it is kind of hard to tell in the photos, Sadie is quite.. well "large".  She is normally a very trim dog, and she has a big belly now. :)  

She is officially due on July 19th, so we made a welping box inside on our landing for her to sleep in and get comfortable with before the puppies come. (she is a mainly outdoor dog)

Sadie wasn't so sure about her box.  She kept running down-stairs, up-stairs, and we kept on returning her. :)

Finally we found a compromise.  She has decided to lay down "next" to her box... :D

Silly Girl.

So if anyone is interested in puppies... we will have some available in a couple months, and they'll be pretty cute!

~Chs

Fireworks!!

The celebrations continued into Saturday, when there was to be fireworks over Lake Lapeer (the best show around!!).  So we had a low key gathering before hand with hot dogs and 4th leftovers. :)

Mr. Reiche, Josh and Theresa all joined us for dinner, and hung around playing games and helping us water the garden while we waited for the time for the fireworks to arrive.

We were informed of this perfect spot to watch the show, oh, probably 4 years ago or so.  It's a little lawn in-between houses, and directly across from where they launch the fireworks.  The owners kindly allow anyone to camp out there to watch!

The performance was truly brilliant as always!  (and loud, Faith wore ear plugs during the entire duration. :) )

There was some creative ones that landed on the water and then exploded (don't ask me how) as well as the normal big colorful, booming ones, and smaller sparkly ones.

We even had a couple dollar signs, a star, and a smiley face (though it was hard to see, since it was smiling upwards....)

(had fun with my camera, playing around with what the fireworks looked like at different focus levels..)

The grand finale was indeed "grand", and we all cheered and then packed up and headed home. Another 4th celebration completely and officially concluded.

~Chs

Faith and the Fourth: a Celebration

Here at our house we celebrate 2 important things on the 4th of July.  Our country's Independence, and Faith's birthday.  This makes everything twice as fun, but also a bit complicated fitting everything in.  

So here is a glimpse at our fourth.

In the morning some of us went down town to look about and see a bit of the parade.

Sadie looking all patriotic!

The town's population exploded once again.  Amazing how many people come out for the fourth!!

The parade is definitely a small town deal, with lots of tractors, classic cars, and a few horses.

This horse was a little unusual looking. :)

The highlight of the parade - California Or Bust...

I truly think we win for having the most tractors in a parade!

Some pretty cars. (anyone spot the one that doesn't quite fit?)

We even had a petting zoo this year!  We had family due to be at our house around 12:30 so we just watched a bit of the parade, and then headed back home.

It was a truly lovely day, perfect for a picnic under the willow tree.

Always so much yummy food. :)

Happy Birthday Faith!

Happy dogs!!

We were so happy to have Aunt Myrt join us! :)

Hamburgers.

Love our Aunt Myrt so much!  Most of the gardening and canning that Faith does she learned form Aunt Myrt.

Between dinner and dessert we took a tour of the gardens to help us digest.

Our Firework Faith!

It was a simply lovely day, celebrating both our nations independence and Faith's birthday!

~Chs